How did you prepare for Pro Tour Philadelphia? Who did you prepare with? Did a bunch of drafts online and tested with the Finnish guys that were qualified. Switched from Mono G Post to Ascension once I got the list from Ensio.

How many hours do you spend on Magic Online in an average week? 10-25, depending on my schedule

What Modern deck did you play and why?Pyromancer Ascension. Got an initial list from Ensio Ask and tuned it. It just seemed insane against the most popular decks.

What do you think of the new Modern format? Very nice, and infinitely better than Extended, glad about the change. Too bad there are no real control decks that are viable.

Where do you play Friday Night Magic, or if you don't go to FNM anymore, where did you play? Don't really play FNM anymore, used to play at Poromagia and Safe Haven.

Sam Black

Age: 29

Hometown: Madison, WI

Occupation: Writer for StarCity Games

How did you qualify for Pro Tour Philadelphia? Pro Level 6

Number of Grand Prix / Pro Tour Top 8s: PT: 0 GP: 3

Other previous Magic accomplishments: Team World Champion, Win-a-Car Tournament winner at Worlds 2007

What was your record by format? Modern: 7-2-1 Booster Draft: 5-1

How did you prepare for Pro Tour Philadelphia? Who did you prepare with? Drafting M12 in Madison all the time. Magic Online with John Stolzmann. In person with Zvi Mowshowitz, Gaudenis Vidugiris, Jon Finkel, Tom Martell, and Zaiem Beg.

How many hours do you spend on Magic Online in an average week? Highly variable depending on whether a set has come out physically or online more recently. I probably play Magic about 6 hours a day.

What Modern deck did you play and why? Mono Blue Poison. John Stolzmann told me he had built a deck he thought might be very good. After some changes, we couldn't find anything that beat it.

What do you think of the new Modern format? I don't think this is what it was supposed to look like. Too much combo. I'd ban Cloudpost, maybe Blazing Shoal, and unban Ancestral Vision, maybe Blossom.

Where do you play Friday Night Magic, or if you don't go to FNM anymore, where did you play? Netherworld Games in Madison – the store I founded but no longer own.

How did you prepare for Pro Tour Philadelphia? Who did you prepare with? With my team (Team GO) composed of Calvetto Marcello, Francesco Cipollesli, Giusti Emanuele, and some romans (Portaro, Bacco, Montanari)

How many hours do you spend on Magic Online in an average week? 0

What Modern deck did you play and why?Splinter Twin, It seemed solid and has good match up against Twelvepost (I think there were many).

Where do you play Friday Night Magic, or if you don't go to FNM anymore, where did you play? La Rocca Di Darksheilon

Josh Utter-Leyton

Age: 25

Hometown: Rohnert Park, CA

How did you qualify for Pro Tour Philadelphia? Pro Club Level 7

Number of Grand Prix / Pro Tour Top 8s: PT: 2 GP: 2

Other previous Magic accomplishments: 2010 US National Champion

What was your record by format? Modern: 8-1-1 Booster Draft: 4-2

How did you prepare for Pro Tour Philadelphia? Who did you prepare with? I spent a week in the woods with the ChannelFireball squad.

How many hours do you spend on Magic Online in an average week? Six.

What Modern deck did you play and why? Zoo. Every other deck was either Cloudpost or a "belcher" deck -- a deck that could kill on turn two or three but was nearly as likely to turn-six fizzle. Zoo was the most stable deck, and had the best sideboard. What do you think about the new Modern format? I was super excited about the change to Modern for this PT. The way the format developed for this PT (so many flimsy combo decks) has tempered that excitement some, but I think the format will look very different now that the best decks are known.

Where do you play Friday Night Magic, or if you don't go to FNM anymore, where did you play? At ChannelFireball's shop, Superstars!